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Louisiana Included in EPA Assessment of Nation’s Coasts

DALLAS – (Aug. 28, 2014) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded $485,000 to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) for testing water quality along the state’s Gulf Coast. The sampling results will contribute to EPA’s National Coastal Conditions Assessment (NCCA).

The NCCA is a survey of our nation’s coastal waters which EPA and state partners conduct to provide regional and national estimates of water quality along U.S. coasts and the Great Lakes. As part of the survey, LDWF will sample water and sediment from 97 sites along Louisiana’s coastline and estuaries.

This sampling will be part of the 2015 NCCA. EPA and its state partners have completed several such surveys since 2001, using statistical sampling to gauge the condition of water quality, sediment quality, fish tissue contaminants, and the ecosystems of coastal and estuary beds. Scientists, researchers, and federal, state, and local environmental officials use the results of the surveys to compare these conditions across the country and over time.

The NCCA supports the goals of the Clean Water Act to protect rivers, lakes, bays, wetlands, and coastal waters. Streams and wetlands benefit communities by trapping floodwaters, recharging groundwater supplies, removing pollution and providing habitats for fish and wildlife. Families and farms located downstream understand the importance of healthy headwaters upstream. One in three Americans get their drinking water from public systems that rely on seasonal and rain-dependent streams. EPA is taking public comment on a rule to help protect our Nation’s waters. For more information please visit: www.epa.gov/uswaters.